Police checkpoint set up in Uxbridge.

Byline: Kim Ring

UXBRIDGE - The man in the passenger's seat of a small green station wagon smoked a cigarette and grinned, admitting he'd made a bad decision when he climbed into the car with a friend who'd been drinking Saturday night.

"I didn't think about it," he said. "I was drinking, too."

Before the night was over, the driver was under arrest and the passenger, who police decided wasn't sober enough to safely walk home, was provided with a ride.

The men hadn't anticipated running into about 20 local and state police as they headed down North Main Street and right into a sobriety checkpoint, where the smell of alcohol wafting from the car alerted a trooper to a possible problem.

"I think it's a pretty good thing," the passenger said.

The checkpoint, paid for with a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was one of about 60 across the state this year; as many as 90 are to be scheduled in the next 12 months.

The locations are chosen by statistics. Towns with high rates of accidents attributed to drunken driving or a large number of arrests for people driving under the influence are more likely to have checkpoint sites.

Uxbridge, with 48 arrests in 20 months, qualified. State police Lt. Alfred Lussier said the numbers on Saturday - about one-third of the drivers initially suspected of driving under the influence were arrested after taking field sobriety tests - were scary, but not as frightening as some he's seen.

"In Clinton, it was 60 percent," he said. Six drivers were arrested during the three-hour event in Uxbridge and about 20 drivers were checked. About 300 cars passed through the area.

The evening starts with a briefing to go over the details of how the checkpoint will operate. For two to three hours before the checkpoint opens, troopers converge on the area looking for impaired drivers. By 11 p.m., North Main Street was transformed into a checkpoint as bright as day. One trooper had stopped a car and discovered 30 hits of Ecstasy and some marijuana. Another had arrested a suspected drunken driver.

Troopers at the checkpoint stop every car, speak briefly with those inside and, with a trained eye, look for signs that the driver might be impaired. If the trooper's suspicions are raised, the car is waved into an area known as "the pit" and the driver speaks with other officers who administer field sobriety tests.

Drivers are asked to recite the alphabet, stand on one leg, complete a nine-step heel-to-toe walk and watch as a pen is moved in front of them as part of a horizontal gaze nystagmus test.

Trooper Kevin W. Packard, who is assigned to the Office of Alcohol Testing, said in that test, police watch people's eyes for wobbling that can indicate they've been drinking.

"It's like taking two marbles and rolling one across a smooth surface and the other across sandpaper," he said.

Sometimes a portable breath test is administered and a driver who hasn't passed muster is handcuffed and taken to the Blood Alcohol Test Mobile, where they are booked. The BAT mobile, as it's called, is the size of a bus and is equipped with computers, cameras and a Breathalyzer, so troopers can complete much of their work at the checkpoint before those under arrest are taken to a police station or barracks.

Many of those directed into the pit were tested, passed and allowed to go. Among them were a man driving a minivan with what appeared to be his family inside, a bearded 20-something with a guitar and amplifiers in his compact car and a man driving with his turn signal and windshield wipers, though the night was dry.

Christopher D. McGovern, the last driver to be tested, about 2 a.m., was at a friend's house when he noticed the hour and headed home to Northbridge.

Something about him caught a trooper's eye, but after he passed the tests and was sent on his way, Mr. McGovern said he hadn't minded the detour.

"It doesn't bother me," he said.

"It's a safety thing."

ART: PHOTOS

CUTLINE: (1) Trooper Richard Frigon conducts a horizontal gaze test on a motorist in Uxbridge. (2) State Trooper Jeffrey Gilbert stops a female motorist for a visual check and initial questioning. (3) Trooper Andrew Daly speaks to a motorist.

PHOTOG: T&G Staff Photos/STEVE LANAVA